Halloween Opening - Miss Georgiou

Opening Scene Analysis

A purpose of an opening scene lets the audience engage more with with the main characters. It introduces us viewers to many different elements including; the genre, loaction, time-frame and different sounds. The opening scenequence tries to make the audience ask themselves questions about the plot and what's going to happen next

In Halloween (1973) film, many different ways for the film to be analysed. In cinematography there were many camera angles used to make the audienence more engaged with the opening scene. A camera angle used in the film is 'zooming in'. This is first used in the opening credits when showing the pumpkin. The camer aangle makes the pumpkin bigger and more effectie as the larger it becomes the more anxious the audience is towards the first scene of the film, making them suspect lots of different things.
Opening sequence

Another cinematography technique used is handheld. This camera angle shows jerky movements creating a sense of the unknown, urgency and uncertainty. This is used when we are seen to be moving towards the house, like somebody is holding the camera on purpose to create an uneven amount of tension and suspension. The camera angle is used to make the audience feel like they are the person moving towards the house. Here we cannot see who the person is, but this connotes that it could be he killer which is conventional to a thriller film as their identity is always hidden to make the audience suspect different things.

Point of View is another cinematography technique used in the scene and is evident when the killer is picking up the knife. We see the character use this weapon to kill the young girl, but the audience here feel as if they are the murderer due to the camera angle. This rates a relationship with the audience as they believe that they are unstoppable been though they are not actually in the film. They get too see the killing through the eyes of the killer. It is also used when the killer puts the mask on and then murders the young girl. Again this makes he audience feel responsible for the killing of this girl as they feel like they are in the position of the killer at this point in time,this is conventional to a thriller as a commonly used weapon is a knife and also the identity is hidden by the mask, which create the suspense on to shortie murderer is.


Finally, the last cinematography element used is the camera angle of Zooming Out. This creates an emotional distance once the boy in Halloween has been seen with blood and a knife in his hands. The emotional distance is created as he realises he has killed his sister and the zooming out makes the house now look vulnerable making everything more dramatic, giving the audience the tension and suspense needed to make them panic and question whether of bit the boy is really the killer.


The sound in a opening scenes crucial into making the scene a lot more dramatic and intensifying. A sound technique used is Non-Diegetic. This is used in the soundtrack in the opening credits and it is also at the beginning of the scene as it blends in with chanting which is off-screen. This adds to the drama of the suspense thats building in the opening scene as we do not know who is walking towards the house. The music adds that extra tension to make us as the audience more uptight and scared about what is going to happen next. This is conventional as it creates the suspense of the scene and makes the audience more frightened.

Secondly, another sound technique used is high pitch. This sound is used when the hidden killer is walking up the stairs. This creates a lot of tension as the audience now start to focus onto the murderer which makes the audience feel more on edge and nervous about what is to happen next. This is conventional to a thriller as it makes the killer look a lot more terrifying and makes the identity of the killer more scary as the scarier the music the more scary the killer. It emphasises the killers actions.

Diegetic sound is also used in the opening scene when the clock is ticking. This is crucial into understand the scene as the clock ticking emphasises her life slowly coming to an end like her life is only a matter of seconds away to being ended and it is showing the sound emphasising it. This creates a relationship with the audience as we sympathise for the girl as her life is coming to an end and we feel helpless towards her. This is conventional to a thriller as the female victim usually always gets murdered in a thriller film so it is cleshae to a thriller.

The final sound technique used is parallel sound. This is used when the piano is playing and it matches the killers footsteps. This creates suspense and tension as we as the audience start to feel scared about the incident about to happen. This is conventional to a thriller as the sound creates the mood of the scene emphasising the panic and suspense in the scene.



The couple were oblivious to the murder being in the house and the parents looked very confused when the little boy was dressed as a clown covered in blood. The boy dressed in the clown outfit is a stereotypical outfit for his age at Halloween.

Narrative.

The narrative of Halloween consists of the stereotypical Halloween thriller genre. The detached house  shows the reality of the film as it's an everyday scenario. The girl and boy kissing on the couch makes us assume that they are unaware of the events to come and make the assume nothing is going to happen. This adds to the suspense to whether the boyfriend is the killer or whether he is in it with somebody else. This is all conventional to a thriller as all seems well at first until the murder happens which makes the thriller a lot more entertaining and dramatic.

The conventions of a thriller include the hidden identity of the the killer. The intentions of the killer shows obsession and how the hidden identity hides who the killer really is leaving the audience in suspense. The iconography used in Halloween is a knife, this is conventional to a thriller as all murderers usually have a weapon which makes the opening scene more realistic. The low key lighting creates the suspense due to the dark shadows which gives the scene a more eerie feel to it. This makes the audience have a great deal of tension in front of them. Another convention is that the female victim dies, this makes the thriller more obvious as when you associate a filler victim you initially think of a young girl, and she in Halloween gets killed first.

By analysing this clip, it will help me with my own thriller film because it gives me ideas of what I could use, for example Iconography and cinematography. Also it will be able to aid me on what keeps people on the edge of there seat throughout a scene, by watching Halloween it showed me that to keep them on edge you have to build up the scene slowly with the background music gradually getting louder and quicker.